In the age of celebrity politicians, it can feel like governments have lost sight of the issues that real, everyday people go through.
When all we see are million dollar campaign endorsements and company lobbying, it is hard to believe that things affecting those of lower socioeconomic status will ever even be noticed, let alone considered.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t shied away from social issues through her campaign.
The New York Representative publicly prioritizes things like social assistance, community programming, and issues that disproportionately effect minority communities.
This week, she will be working as a bartender as a way of drawing attention to minimum wage hikes.
Ocasio-Cortez is bartending in support of the Raise the Wage Act , a bill in the House of Representatives that “would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.”
She is also pushing to enact change to wage cuts in New York.
Currently in the state of New York, tipped workers such as waitresses and bartenders are legally allowed to be paid below minimum wage .
Ocasio-Cortez wants laws like these changed so that even tipped workers can make a living wage.
This will not be Ocasio-Cortez’s first time bartending.
She has spoken before about how she used to wait tables and bartend before she ran for office.
“I find it revealing when people mock where I came from.”
“They say they’re going to ‘send me back to waitressing’, as if that is bad or shameful,” she writes, “It is as though they think that being a member of Congress makes you intrinsically ‘better’ than a waitress. But our job is to serve, not to rule.”
“As a former tipped worker, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez can shed light on the importance of One Fair Wage to lift up these workers and their families.”
“We’re very grateful for our partnership with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” stated Saru Jayaraman, the co-founder of Restaurant Opportunities Centers, “who fully understands the struggles of these workers.”
She will be bartending on Friday as part of an event organized by ROC United.
Ocasio-Cortez is currently one of 200 co-sponsors of the Raise the Wage Act .
The location that she will be bartending at has not yet been revealed to the public.
h/t: Daily Dot
